‘Coup d’état: The removal and seizure of a government and its powers. The overthrow or alteration of an existing government by a small group.”
One of the first recorded “Coup d’état” comes from the Judeo-Christian bible in 876 BC. “Zimri, one of his officials, who had command of half his chariots, plotted against him. King Elah was in Tirzah at the time. Zimri came in, struck him down and killed him in the twenty-seventh year of Asa king of Judah. Then he succeeded him as king.”
Unfortunately for Zimri, seven days later the military elected a new king, Omri, one of Zimri’s commanders.
The latest coup occurred on February 1, 2021. After a national election this past November, Myanmar’s military detained State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi and other members of the ruling party. The military handed power to military chief Min Aung Hlaing and declared a state of emergency for one year.
In November 1799, Napoleon Bonaparte overthrew the French government using a combination of propaganda and bribery. He also convinced local military to clear the area around the legislative chamber. No blood was shed.
In the morning of March 21, 2012, there was a protest by soldiers in a military camp 15 kilometers north of the Mali capital of Bamako. Twenty-four hours later soldiers took over the capital city. A civilian government was formed with the military “supervising” the government.
It is reported that the 2012 rebellion claimed the lives of almost 15,000 soldiers. Not all coups d’état are created equal.
According to the Journal of Peace Research, there were 457 coup attempts from 1950 to 2010; 230 were unsuccessful. Across time and countries, there is one common denominator: the military, even in a supporting role.
There are few, if any, instances when the military announced that it was taking government power because it had the guns and therefore could do so.
Idi Amin was Uganda’s top general and overthrew President Milton Obote, promising to restore democracy. We know how that turned out. Muammar al-Qaddafi staged a coup in 1969, informing the country that the “corrupt” and “reactionary” regime had been toppled.
On February 1, the Tatmadaw—Myanmar’s military—seized power after detaining State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi and other democratically elected leaders. No major violence has been reported. The military had posited that alleged voter fraud threatened national sovereignty. Myanmar’s military said that it would protect and abide by the constitution.
The basic question then becomes this: What is the difference between a “military takeover of power” and “protecting the people and the State”—in the words of the Philippine constitution? It cannot be simply a matter of motives and good intentions. “One man’s Terrorist is another man’s Freedom Fighter.”
In truth, it does not matter, nor did it ever matter. In every age, in every nation, it will ultimately be the military that has the ability to determine who leads the government. During an emergency meeting of the Communist Party of China on August 7, 1927, at the beginning of the Chinese Civil War, Mao Zedong said, “Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun.”
Believing otherwise is naive. That has been a fact for millennia across the planet. It did not matter what type of government—monarchy, democracy, dictatorship—was in power. And here is an interesting thought from “Les Miserables” author Victor Hugo for national leaders that become too comfortable. “They fell into the dreadful error of mistaking the soldier’s obedience for the consent of the nation.”